To Find Yourself
by HeroesWearRed
Summary: This is a re-write of the original fanfic. I am the original author. George lost himself when Fred died five years ago. Someone shows up and helps him find himself. George/OC
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is an EXTREMELY edited version of the original To Find Yourself. I am the original author. I just saw a bunch of errors that I am not proud of and decided it would be best to upload a new version with proper storyline and characters and all that kind of stuff. Anyways, reviews are much appreciated… even though I don't expect many. –sigh- 'Tis the life of an amateur fanfiction writer.

The sole Weasley twin lied down in his cot after a long day at work, staring at the ceiling of his small bedroom that was a part of the apartment over his shop. He guessed he would be in the hat of the joke shop, but magic was not that linear. Regardless, his thoughts wandered from the benign subject of the placement of his flat to his family. Well, what was left of his family anyways. Despite the fact he had lost one member of his family to death, that family member being probably the single most important people in his life, the rest of his family was busy with one thing or another. Ron, Percy, and Bill were all married, Bill and Percy with children. Ginny was married to Harry and they would be having a baby soon. That left him and Charlie single, right? Wrong, he thought to himself. Charlie was getting married in about a month. So that left the sole Weasley twin also the only lonely Weasley.

A pecking at the glass window broke him out of his self-pitying train of thought. The ginger sighed and sat up to open the window, allowing an owl to swoop in. The tawny owl landed next to him and held out its leg, waiting for him to take the letter attached. He took the parchment note from the owl and fed it a treat. George opened the note and immediately recognized the handwriting as his brother Charlie.

_Hey, George. The entire family's getting together this weekend at the burrow. I hope you'll join us. You're part of the family, you know. _

_CW_

George took just a few second to read the almost illegible scrawl. He thought for a few seconds. A few seconds longer than usual. He would get a letter like this every couple of weeks from one family member or another and he always threw them out without a second thought. He had no clue why, but he found himself writing a short letter back.

_I'll be there_

_GW _

Before giving himself time to think twice, he gave the letter to the owl and sent it. He went over to his closet and pulled out more casual clothes to change into instead of his work robes. He needed a drink, and he knew just the place to go, The Leaky Cauldron. George quickly changed, grabbed his wand, and headed down the busy street to the popular pub entrance to Diagon Alley.

George stepped inside the old pub and took a seat in the corner. Most people were talking and drinking loudly in groups. He had brought a book, not that he had any intentions of reading it, to make himself look less pathetic. He briefly looked around the pub, noticing only one other person sitting alone. It was a young woman, probably about his age, maybe a little younger. She was hunched over some papers and books, the shorter bits of her dark brown hair falling in her face despite the majority being pulled back into a ponytail. He was staring at her for a few minute before he broke his gaze. She was stunning. He hadn't thought anyone was stunning in five years, since… since the battle of Hogwarts. He had no idea why this random girl had caught his eye, nor did he know what to do about it. The ginger stood up and walked towards the bar to order a drink, looking briefly over his shoulders at the brunette as he passed her.

Drink in hand, George was returning to his table when he suddenly stopped and turned around. He walked shyly up to the table with the brunette, "Umm… Hi. My name's George." Bloody hell, how could he be so stupid? He ridiculed himself while he waited what seemed like years for the girl to respond.

"Hi, George. Nice to meet you. I'm Mai." She said, looking at him with positively stunning green-hazel eyes.

"I haven't seen you here before. Are you new to town?" He asked awkwardly.

"I just moved here for work. So yeah, I'm new to town I guess." Mai explained, the words simply flowing from her lips like a song.

"What kind of work would make you move? Can't you just aparate or use floo powder?" George asked, in a slightly harsh tone of voice.

"Jobs at the ministry prefer you live in the London area. So, here I am. So what's your job?" Mai responded.

"I own a shop in Diagon Alley." George said. "A joke shop." He clarified.

"Ah, well that must be a lot of fun." She smiled and pushed her hair behind her ear.

"Eh, it has its ups and downs." Like having your business partner and twin brother being killed, he added mentally. "May I sit?" He asked, noticing he was still standing awkwardly next to the table.

"Oh, yes yes, of course." Mai said, moving a few of her papers to make room for him at the small table.

George took a seat and placed his drink down in the space in front of him. He continued making small talk with the girl. She was 22 years old from Plymouth, England. She went to Hogwarts, she was in Ravenclaw, and she has 2 brothers, both older than her. They had a nice long chat before she had to go, saying she had work in the morning.

"Can we get together sometime? Grab a coffee or something?" George asked, hopefully.

"Yeah, that sounds good." Mai said before heading back to her flat, leaving George to finish his drink alone.

A/N: Well that was the remake of the first chapter. The others will be longer I think.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Well… Since I've already started I guess I might as well get as much as possible done as quickly as possible. Disclaimer: I own nothing except Mai. Thanks for anyone that's reading. Feel free to leave a review or send me a PM.

Charlie was making at the table, eating breakfast with his soon to be wife, Willow, reading the newspaper when an owl started to peck on the window. He placed down the Daily Prophet and went over to open the window. The outdoorsy ginger opened the window to let the messenger bird in and took the letter from its leg.

"Who's it from?" Willow asked, nibbling on her toast.

Charlie opened the letter. "It's from George." Charlie answered. "It says he's coming this Sunday… I better send a message to mum to tell her to expect a guest."

"You mean another guest." Willow corrected. "Ginny said that Harry invited a friend from work."

"Huh. I guess mum's going to have a full house… She'll probably be happy to have guests anyways. Mum loves bustling around and making people happy." Charlie said. It was true, his mum does love cooking big meals for the family and making sure everyone had their fill. He couldn't even imagine how she reacted to the way the Dursleys treated Harry. He looked almost malnourished whenever he saw him at after Harry spent a few weeks at the Durlseys's residence.

"Your mum really is amazing." Willow agreed. "Now eat up, we have to go into town soon. We're meeting with the caterers."

"M-ky." Charlie said through a mouthful of sausage and eggs.

Willow rolled her eyes as she watched her fiancé ate his breakfast and after another five minutes the two were ready to head out to Diagon Alley. The two of them aparated to just outside a small catering shop named Billbey's Caterers. The couple walked into the caterer's shop to meet Mrs. Weasley and the caterer. Just like everyone else in the family, the couple was planning to have their wedding at the burrow.

"Charlie, Willow!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed upon seeing them, pulling the pair into a big mama bear hug.

"Nice to see you, mum." Charlie responded with a smile.

"Hello, Mrs. Wealey." Willow said.

"It's Molly, dear. You'll be family in just a couple weeks." Mrs. Weasley responded, rubbing her arms. "Now let's get this catering settled out so you won't have to worry over it."

Willow nodded and the three sat down to hash out what was to be served at the reception. It was considerably sped up by Molly's presence. After helping to plan multiple Weasley weddings she had learned a few skills. Less than an hour the couple was left to run a few errands and Molly returned back to the burrow to start dinner.

A/N: not necessarily my most interesting chapter. I'll admit it was mostly filler, but it will speed up soon so please stick with it! Next chapter will be the Sunday dinner and maybe more~


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thank you for the follows and favourites! I really appreciate it! Hopefully this chapter will have a bit more action than the last. Please review.

George locked up early on Sunday. He had other people working, but business was slow and he'd rather not have to worry about the shop while he was dealing with his family. He went upstairs to change into trousers and a sweater before going to the burrow. He brushed his messy red hair to make it look less bed-head and more generally unruly. George shrugged on his jacket and walked out of the shop to aparate to the burrow.

He landed on the front lawn about a quidditch field away from the door to his childhood house. George sighed loudly and started to short walk towards the house. _Why are you doing this?_ He asked himself. He knew that he was probably going to be berated by questions from his parents and siblings and sibling-in-laws for at least the length of dinner. The best he could hope for would be pretending to read the Dailey Prophet for a couple hours and hope no one bothers to talk to him.

George was just about to knock on the door when the door swung open revealing his annoying older prefect perfect brother, Percy. "I didn't know you were coming." The older ginger commented surprised.

"Yep, now let me in, will you?" George responded harshly, slipping past the ministry worker to get inside. He could feel Percy's eyes on him even though George didn't bother to look back. He made his way into the living room without any more encounters. Sadly that was where his luck ended. _When did I become such a git?_ He asked himself as he took a seat in one of the many armchairs. Most of his family was sitting around the room except for Harry, his mum and Ginny (who were probably in the kitchen cooking dinner), and Percy, who as far as George knew or cared, was still standing at the door. _Keep your head down and don't make eye contact._ He told himself as he stared towards the dirty carpet.

"George. How have you been?" His father asked, a small smile across his face.

"I've been okay." George answered, not looking up. He reached over and grabbed the paper off of the coffee table. He opened it and proceeded to pretend to care about the ministry's most recent attempt to cover up incompetence or who was the wizard with the most dashing smile or the column written by an egotistical amnesiac fraud.

Thankfully no one else bothered to talk to him for about fifteen minutes until the rest of the guests arrived. George heard the sounds of conversation coming from the kitchen and then there were footsteps that walked into the doorway of the living room.

"Hey, everyone. I'd like to introduce you to Mai. She's a friend from work." Harry said, gesturing towards the young woman standing behind him.

"Hi." She said with slight nervousness in her voice, waving to the people in the room.

George perked up for a moment, recognizing not only the name but the voice. _Could that be the same girl from the Leaky Cauldron? _He looked over to see the same girl with the dark brown hair and stunning green eyes. Huh, what are the odds? George turned his gaze back to the bland newspaper as Harry began introducing Mai to each person individually. George made it a point not to look up again until Harry motioned towards him.

"And this is-." Harry started, only to be interrupted.

"George." Mai finished for him. Harry gave her a strange look and she quickly added. "We met the other day."

"Alright." Harry said with a shrug before taking a seat next to Ron and quickly starting up a conversation about something or the other.

Mai sat down in the arm chair near George and crossed her legs. George spent about twelve seconds deciding whether or not to talk to her. Thankfully for him, he didn't have to make that decision because Hermione started up a conversation with her nearly immediately. He felt bad for a fraction of a second, but then decided he would rather stay silent and pretending to read a book. He did however listen in to the Hermione and Mai's conversation.

"So you work at the ministry?" Hermione asked. "I work in Magical Law Enforcements."

"Oh, really. I'm in International Communications." Mai responded. _So that's what she does… _George thought as he turned the page to yet another uninteresting article.

"That's fantastic. So how do you know Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Well I work in the legal portion and some aurors needed to get entrance to Russia and Harry came to ask me for help." Mai answered.

"In that case we might end up working together at some point." Hermione said with a smile.

The conversation continued between the two girls, another family occasionally piping in until it became a normal loud Weasley house conversation. George continued to eavesdrop for anything that sounded interesting as he leafed through the pages of newspaper. It was almost twenty minutes before anything else caught his attention.

"So how did you and George meet?" Charlie asked from the couch across the room where he was holding hands with Willow.

"We just ran into each other and got to talking." Mai answered. George then felt all eyes turn to him, including a set from behind him.

"Uh huh." George agreed, without putting down the newspaper.

"Dinner's ready." His mum said from behind him.

_Perfect timing. _George thought as the choirs of "Can't wait"s "I's straving"s and "Smells great"s filled the room. George folded up the newspaper and placed it on the end table before standing up and making his way into the kitchen.

"What are the odds of us running into each other here?" Mai asked him as they walked into the kitchen.

"I was thinking the same thing." George said with a small smile.

The family sat around the table, which had been extended for this occasion and took up most of the dining area, and began to serve themselves food. They ate quickly in mostly silence aside from chewing and occasional compliments to his mum or little sister about the food, which admittedly was very good. All the food his mum made was good. _How long has it been since I've eaten Mum's food? _George wondered. It had probably been at least since Christmas. He shook his head and returned to reality. The eating portion of the meal was done fairly quickly and then it returned to normal conversation. Why oh why had he left the newspaper in the other room? Why was he even here? He definitely didn't want to talk to his family. He sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"So how have you been?" His father asked.

"Work's fine." George answered with a sigh.

"I didn't ask about work, I asked about you."

"I'm fine." George responded quickly.

"So have you done anything interesting?" Percy asked, making George start to feel like he was under a firing squad.

"Not really." He answered quickly, hoping they would give up after the two word answers.

"Nothing at all? You need to get out more." Ron said with a small chuckle even though everyone knew he wasn't joking.

"Meh." George responded with a small shrug.

"Maybe you could hang out with me and some of the guys from work sometime." Harry offered.

"No thanks." George responded quickly.

"Maybe you should take that offer. It would be good for you to get out some." His mum chimed in.

"I need some air." George said, pushing back the chair and walking outside in a huff. This is exactly what he was afraid of. For his family to yell at him to get out more and bother him about it, but now he had opened the door again so he expected to get owls everyday offering to take him somewhere or visits to the shop just to make sure he was okay. He stormed away from the house and towards the garden. He would aparate, but he left his jacket inside and he knew if he left it there would be a visit to return it. Instead he would calm down, go back inside to grab his jacket and then he would give some excuse in order to leave.

About twenty minutes passed with just him pacing around the garden before he knew it. George probably would have continued if his train of thought, but it was interrupted.

"Fancy meeting you out here." Mai's voice made him jump.

"Uh, Yeah. What are you doing out here?" George asked, his voice much softer than it was inside.

"I'm not sure if you know this, but your family is _really_ loud." Mai joked with a small laugh.

"I can't argue with that." George said with a smile.

"Are you okay? You seemed pretty upset earlier."

"I'm fine." George said, hoping and praying that she wouldn't nag any further.

"If you don't want to talk that's fine." Mai said. George thanked his lucky stars.

"Thanks." George replied with a small smile. "About that dinner… When are you free?" He asked nervously.

"I'm free evenings this week… except for Tuesday. I have to work late." Mai answered.

"Then how does Wednesday sound? At that Italian restaurant… what's its name… Intermezzo?" George offered.

"Sounds like a plan." Mai said. "I'll see you then." She said before walking away.

A/N: Eh? Tell me what you think please!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: hahaha well it's been a while hasn't it? Sorry about that. I've been sick and busy and full of writers block, but despite not feeling much better physically or emotionally I've had some inspirational breakthroughs~ I hope you can forgive my lateness and enjoy!

The beginning of the week flew by and before George knew it, it was Wednesday afternoon. Most of the morning had passed in a daze. That night was his first date in _years_ and he could barely keep his head straight.

"Oye, boss!" Jeremy, one of the first employees he had hired when he had re-opened the shop, yelled, jolting him out of his daze. "What's up with you today? You seem out of it."

George rubbed the back of his neck. "Nothing, just thinking about making some new products, that's all." He lied easily. He'd had more than enough practice over the years.

Jeremy shrugged, "Whatever you say, boss." Jeremy walked off to help a couple customers who had just walked in. George watched fondly as the employee he had trained himself did sold the products so well. Jeremy had grown to be more of a co-worker to George over the years. He'd grown to be a friend. Not that George had ever done anything with Jeremy outside of work, but it was one of the closest relationships he had despite still being distant.

George glanced at the time for the millionth time that day, 4:56PM. He decided he might as well start getting ready. His reservations weren't until 6:30, but he wanted to make sure he got there on time, being late could end something before it even started.

"I'm leaving early today. Can you close up tonight, Jeremy?" George asked his faithful assistant.

"Big plans for the evening, boss?"

George eyes widened slightly, but he quickly covered up his surprise with a swift lie. "No, I just have some shopping to do."

"Alright, well, have fun shopping." Jeremy said, obviously not buying the lie.

"I'll do my best." George said monotone before excusing himself to his flat above the shop before Jeremy would have any more time for snide comments or nosey questions.

He shut the door behind him as he stepped into the small flat. George walked into his bedroom, sighing loudly as he opened his closet door. Most of his clothes were old, second hand, and overall unimpressive. He went through most of his closet before he found a button down shirt that wasn't wrinkled beyond the repair of a quick ironing spell and a pair of slacks. George laid them out on his bed and grabbed his wand.

"Rugam Reparium." He said with a quick wave of his wand, the shirt ruffling under a rush of warm air.

George left the shirt and slacks laying out on his bed as he walked into the bathroom. He avoided his reflection in the mirror, keeping his eyes focused on the sink as he washed his hands and face. Eventually he had to look up in order to comb his hair into some semblance of order, the face staring back at him was simultaneously that of a stranger and all too familiar. He quickly combed his hair so his missing ear wasn't visible and hurried out of the bathroom, closing the door loudly behind himself. He sat down on the edge of the bed, putting his head in his hands.

"Dammit." He mumbled to himself. "It's been 5 bloody years…" he took a shaky breath, trying to calm down his racing thoughts and anxieties. He stood quickly and paced the short length of his room a few times, trying to rid of the nervous energy.

After a few long minutes, George had managed to calm down enough to continue to get ready. He slipped on the slacks, which were almost a size too large for him, and grabbed a belt. Then he buttoned up the shirt, one button at a time, just like everyone else. The clock told him his early departure had been a better idea than originally thought. It was nearing 6:00PM and it would take at least fifteen minutes to get to the restaurant. He quickly slipped on his shoes and a jacket before heading on his way.

Diagon Alley was bustling and full as always. George managed to navigate easily through the crowd, into the Leaky Cauldron, and out into muggle London without much of a hassle. There were plenty of good magic restaurants, but George always preferred to dine in the muggle part of town if he was going out for anything special. It was quainter and less stressful. He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked along the sidewalk towards the hole in the wall Italian restaurant.

Fifteen minutes after six George walked into Intermezzo. It was a small restaurant, the seating area only about the size of a small classroom. He walked up to the podium where a young man with well-kept brown hair was welcoming customers.

"How may I help you tonight, sir?" The young adult asked George.

"Reservation for 2 under Weasley." George told the host, and underlying level of rudeness and impatience in his voice.

The host looked down at the binder, running his finger down the paper until he saw the name. "Ah, yes. You're right here, Mr. Weasley. Your table should be ready in just a few minutes."

George nodded and sat on the bench in the small waiting area. He looked around the restaurant. The décor was simplistic, a few pieces of artwork, a few bottles of wine, a couple of plants and candles, nothing magnificent or eye catching, nothing impressive. Maybe he should have chosen a nicer restaurant, something a little more upscale or expensive, but it was too late to change plans now.

"Mr. Weasley, your table is ready." A waitress with slicked back blonde hair announced a few minutes later.

George stood and followed the waitress back to the table. She placed down the two menus in her hands and said she would be back in a few minutes to take his drink order. He placed his jacket on the back of the chair and sat down. George had hoped that Mai would have gotten there before he had been seated so he wouldn't have to crane his neck around to watch for her to come in. Thankfully it only took a few short minutes before Mai entered the Italian restaurant. George was stunned, she looked absolutely amazing, with her shoulder length dark brown hair perfectly placed and the navy blue dress accentuating not only her figure, but her eyes. He waved for her to come over to the table and she did, her stride ever so slightly off balance due to her heels and the carpet. She took the seat across from him.

"Sorry I'm late." Mai apologized immediately, straightening her dress.

"You're not late. I just got here early." George responded quickly before mentally hitting himself for making the second statement.

Mai chuckled. "Okay then. So how have you been?" She asked.

George shrugged. He could tell her that he had been doing nothing but working and sleeping since Sunday, but that wouldn't make for a very interesting subject so he decided to change the subject to her. "I've been okay, I guess. How about you, how have you been?"

"Pretty good. I finally got a key witness moved from Lithuania to testify in a case, which is a relief." Mai told him.

George nodded, interested in what she had to say. "So do you enjoy your work?" He asked.

"Yeah. It's really interesting. I get to travel and meet a bunch of people and learn a lot about different wizarding cultures." Mai said with a smile.

"That's good." George said, trying to keep the subject on her at all cost. "So do you have any siblings?"

"One, a little brother, his name's Nicholas. He's still at Hogwarts." Mai answered. "You have a pretty big family if I remember right."

George nodded. "Yeah. So is your brother a Ravenclaw too?" George inquired. It seemed only natural to him; most families had all their children in one house after all.

"No. He's a Hufflepuff like my Mum." Mai answered. "I'm the odd one out of the family I guess." She finished with a shrug as the waiter came back up to get their drink orders.

"Just a glass of water, thank you." Mai said, when the waiter asked her, then he turned to take George's order.

"A glass of wine, red." He ordered curtly, not adding in formalities to his order. It was the man's job after all.

The waiter left the couple to their conversation, going to get them their drink orders.

"So what about you? I assume Gryffindor considering all the decorations at the family home, but one can never be too sure."

"Yeah, my whole family has been in Gryffindor basically as long as I can remember." George quickly thought of another question to ask her before he became the topic of conversation. "Have you seen all the slander in the daily prophet about Hogwarts? I'm surprised Professor McGonagall puts up with it." He had to reduce to lowly gossip, but it was still better than the alternative.

"Yeah, I saw that." Mai said, seeming slightly confused by the abrupt change in topic. She fiddled with her necklace. It was a silver rose on a thin chain that fell just above the neckline of her dress.

"That's an interesting necklace." George said, noticing the simple yet elegant piece.

"It was a present from my Grandmum. I think this might even be from the 1920s. It's probably worth too much to just be wearing around on my neck, but." She shrugged, "You're probably not interested in my banter about old jewelry."

George shook his head, "No no, its fine. Your Grandmum sounds like a wonderful person."

"She was. She passed a few years ago. She was 105 years old so it wasn't much of a shock, but it was sad none the less." Mai said.

"Sorry to hear that." George said, frowning slightly.

The conversation went on and the night progressed. It was included plenty of laughs and smiles. At the end of the dinner George took it upon himself to pay the bill. As the two walked out of the restaurant he spoke, "I can walk you back to your flat if you'd like." He offered.

Mai smiled at him. "Thanks, I'd like that."

A/N … done… that took a while. Anyways I hope it wasn't overly boring or disappointing. I just really don't think George would be rushing this relationship and Mai's not one to push. If you have any ideas feel free to leave a comment!


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